Haste
by Donika
Summary: This a story about a cowboy and his horse  very bad at summarys . It's actually based on a dream I had once.
1. Prelude

Prelude

"Are you the mayor of this town?" I asked the man behind the desk of this old building. "Hmm? And who might you be?" he asked me in a gruff voice. I grinned and said "The name's Hawk, and I'm interested in the job you have." He stared at me for a bit before answering. "I see, well do you think yer' up for it?"

"I reckon so sir."

"Very well then, the bandits are up Cougar Mountain. Find em' and either drive em' out…or kill em', you'll get half the pay now and half after. That work for ya'?" I growled a little before I said "yep, works just fine." The mayor looked a little intimidated as he handed me the money.

Outside was dry and hot. The sun was blazing high up in the sky. I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled. My partner 'Haste' ran up to me and whinnied. "We got the job Haste, so shall we be on our way?" He nodded his head enthusiastically. I hopped on his back and we road off toward Cougar Mountain.

I looked down at the bandits through my binoculars. There were twenty of them at least. Wait…they had guards posted up the cliff as well, that made twenty-five. I took out my sniper rifle and aimed. I looked for the one that was probably the leader. There! I took aim and fired. He went down in one shot, but now all the others were on to me. I aimed at a few more of them, got like four when one of them got a really good shot. He shot my sniper rifle right out of my hand. "Aughh!" he'd grazed my hand deeply. And my sniper rifle was ruined. "Damn!" I had no choice but to get closer. I started moving down the mountain, keeping to as much cover as I could. I took my normal rifle out and found a spot to shoot from. I was able to take down ten before I couldn't see them anymore from the spot. I moved down, cover was getting more scarce. Bullets whizzed past me, narrowly missing. I made it to the bottom of the mountain. One of them rushed at me wielding a sword. _"That's stupid" _I thought _"he's left himself wide open". _I fired but he dodged _"he's fast!". _I had no choice but to pull out my dagger. But a dagger against a sword? Wait what am I thinking I'm Hawk. I'm the most feared cowboy in this wild country. I grinned and threw my dagger at him, hitting his leg. He just pulled it out and kept coming. I growled menacingly at him. He hesitated for a split second, but it was enough for me to pounce on him. I bit the arm holding the sword with my sharp teeth. "AUUUGHHH!" he screamed "I didn't realize it at first! You…you're one of them freaks!" he yelled, I flinched, I hated that word 'freaks'. Although I suppose it's true, I am only half human, the other half is dog. I was once fully human though, a long time ago. I even had a family, but my family and I were captured by scientists. They were experimenting with genetic manipulation. My family 'a wife and two sons' died during the experiments, I survived.

I growled at him fiercely, and leaped at him. I bit deeply into his neck, his blood ran down my face. I glared at the bandits that were left. They screamed and ran. I doubted they'd be back. I sighed, Haste trotted up and nudged me. "Ya…I'm fine Haste, don't worry."

I washed up before going back to the mayor. He gave me the rest of the money and thanked me on behalf of the town. He offered a room to rest for the night. I politely declined, and me and Haste went on our way, riding off into the sunset.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

I leaned down to put my canteen under the stream. Haste and I had been traveling for three days to reach a town by the name of 'Gold rush'. I was hoping to speak to a certain person there. When my canteen was full I said to Haste "Well we're almost there, just on more day. C'mon Haste." Haste trotted up to me and snorted.

"What? Why you snortin at me eh?"

He snorted again and pawed the ground. His ears were straight back. "Sumthin wrong haste?" I listened carefully. Then I heard it…wolves. Sounded like a big pack of them too. "We should move on Haste." I got on his back and we rode away. But the wolves had already spotted us. They started to run after us but they couldn't catch Haste. He was the fastest horse around, nuthin could catch him. He was also the strongest and most agile. He healed unnaturally quickly too. The reason for these traits was that he had been experimented on by the same scientists that captured me and my family.

The wolves quickly gave up. Later when the sun was setting, we made camp under a large arch like rock. I stared up at the stars while sitting at our campfire. "It's a nice night tonight, Haste. I think it deserves a song." I got out the guitar I keep on Haste's saddle. It's a smallish guitar, for easier packing. I began to play a ballad about the stars.

We left camp at dawn the next morning. It would take a half a day to finally reach Gold Rush. The day soon went from the coolness of morning to the brutal heat of midday. We finally saw the town in the distance. I breathed heavily, it was very hot. I took out my canteen and took a gulp. Then I took off my hat and poured some water on my head and Haste's. He whinnied in pleasure. I put my hat back on "Ok let's get down there. Maybe we can refill on water too."

As we rode into town, the people stared at us. I went to the saloon. I pushed through the swing doors. There were cowboys, wranglers, gunslingers, you name it. So I didn't stand out since I covered my dog ears with my hat, and my tail with a duster coat. I approached the counter and sat on a stool. "Bartender, whisky over here." He silently poured a glass and gave it to me. "Also…do you happen to know of a man who goes by the name Blackbird" I said quietly to the bartender. He said "Well know I'm not sure I can remember." I handed him a 10 dollar bill and he changed his tone. "He lives in the cabin over the hill." That's all he would tell me. I nodded to him and drained my whisky.

I left the saloon and began to look for a hill his house could be over. I felt something bump into me, I looked down to see a girl. She looked to be about 18 or 19. She was a beautiful girl with golden locks flowing to her shoulders, and eyes the color of the deep blue western sky. She was also franticly trying to apologize. I took her shoulders and said "What're you freaking out over?"

She told me in a shaky voice. "Th…those men are harassing me." she pointed at some rough looking men that had come the way she had.

"Oh look the little missy has found someone to protect her."

One of them said. Another one said "he doesn't look like much, let's take him down and claim our girl." It was true I wasn't very big, but I wasn't scrawny. I put the girl behind me, and got ready to fight. The girl looked worried. The three men rushed at me. I grinned, this was gonna be easy. I easily dodged there fists, and connected with there jaws with my fists. I was beating them pretty good when one pulled out a knife, I said "Getting a little unfair there aint'ya? But two can play at that game." I pulled out my dagger.

We clashed three on one, the one was still winning though. They finally got fed up and pulled out their guns. I quickly pulled out mine as well. But one of them caught me off guard by aiming for the girl. I rushed to stop him and managed to get in front of the girl. I was in the line of fire though. He pulled the trigger, I felt the thud in my chest. The girl screamed. It hurt a lot, but I couldn't let them take this girl. I wouldn't let myself pass out just yet. The thing about me is that when I am gravely wounded, adrenaline takes over. Sort of a berserk mode. I howled at them and rushed with just my bare hands. I had claws though, I ripped their guns out of their hands. I went for there faces, but before I could kill them horribly, a voice called out to me "Stop please don't kill them!"

A jolt went through me. I stopped just inches away from one of them. I turned around and looked at the frail girl who had stopped my rampage with the simple sound of her voice.

The men ran in fear, but I hardly noticed. Only Haste had ever been able to stop me when I went berserk. She looked at me with an expression of worry not fear. Is she not afraid of me? I thought, just before I collapsed.

I slowly opened my eyes. My chest hurt, but it was a little less then before. A figure stood over me. They came into the light, and I saw it was a native man. He had black braided hair, and dark eyes. He was applying something to my chest. I flinched, it hurt. I passed out again.

When I awoke again. The girl was sitting beside me. She looked so worried. I was awake enough that this time I was pretty sure I wouldn't pass out again. I asked her in a weak voice "Why aren't you afraid of me?" she just smiled sweetly at me. Then the man came up with a bowl of soup. "How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"Tired…who are you?"

"I am Blackbird, I am the healer in this town."

"Blackbird? Really? I was looking for you…"

"Yes, so the bartender told me. And what is your name?"

"I am Hawk." Hawk wasn't actually my real name, but I hadn't used that since my family died. The girl spoke up "My name is Daffodil, I'm glad you're all right. Thank you for saving me, and not killing those men." I was still wondering why she wasn't afraid of me, and why she hadn't questioned my different ears, for I was not wearing my hat. I just said "Daffodils are my favorite flower."

She blushed "R…really?" I smiled at her. "Thank you for stopping me. I can't control myself when I get like that." So I'd just met her and already she'd seen the worst of me. And yet she wasn't scared, on the contrary she was genuinely worried about me. I saw haste outside the window, so he was fine. I finally ate the soup Blackbird had given me. It was delicious. I would ask him about stuff when I felt a little better.


End file.
